Nic Wolpe, the mastermind behind an outstanding tribute to SA’s Struggle heroes

When I arrived in South Africa in 1991 to set up a branch of our family bank, Robert Fleming, it was in the teeth of a gale of waning confidence in this great nation.

I remember very clearly the advice of a National Party minister, whispered to me at a conference for foreign investors: “Don’t forget to switch off the lights.” The omens were not rosy.

Little did I dream, over the course of the next decade, that positive change and democracy would sweep away these gloomy portents, that I would meet our hero and agent of change, Nelson Mandela, and for me, as significant, the great Mendi Msimang, treasurer-general of the ANC, who lent his full support to the creation of the Liliesleaf Farm Trust.

The genesis of this inspired idea lay with Nic Wolpe, whose courageous father, Harold, and Arthur Goldreich had provided in the 1960s a safe house for ANC activists led by Mandela at their Rivonia farm, Liliesleaf.

Subsequently, armed with start-up capital from my family and others, Msimang and the trust acquired the farm and a few buildings around it to form the foundation of a museum of national significance to commemorate the liberation Struggle.

Nic Wolpe volunteered to run the project, in retrospect a Herculean task.

He would be the first to admit that the challenges he faced in building from scratch a world-class heritage facility were daunting. His lack of experience in managing a sizeable construction project, the constant fight to secure charitable donations and the political struggles over the control of the trust all weighed heavily on him.

That said, without his energy and indefatigable urgency to complete the mission, this remarkable facility would never have been built. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the decision to temporarily close the museum during Covid-19, Liliesleaf is an outstanding tribute to the heroes of the liberation Struggle. Mendi Msimang and Nic Wolpe deserve their place in the sun.

The last few years were a heavy burden for Wolpe. Suffering from an incurable tumour, his courage and humour were his mainstays.

With his enduring passion for James Bond films, we regularly discussed how my uncle Ian might have placed him in the next sequel.

He was adamant that despite his noble but unBond-like stature, he was a shoo-in for the next film.

Laughter was his uplifting companion during the final grim struggle he endured with such courage. DM

Businessman Adam Fleming is the great-grandson of Scottish banker Robert Fleming, founder of the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. His uncle was the James Bond novelist Ian Fleming.